Cirque is our first Ridgeback. He has lived up to everything we expected from the breed and more. We wanted an athletic, healthy, strong, devoted dog to accompany us on long backpacking trips and to train for marathons with us. We were looking for a dog with great endurance and one that would thrive in high mountains and desert terrain. We picked the right dog. Cirque can accompany my wife Sally on a 20 mile training runs with no problem and still want to go out to the dog park to play afterwards. He has developed really good trail manners. His temperament is just what we were looking for, self assured but not aggressive. He is just the right amount of protective of our home and our selves. He is really friendly to those he knows and will accept new people readily when we introduce them to him. He earned his Canine Good Citizen Certificate with high praises for his stable temperament from the evaluator. Her only criticism was that he was a little slow in his response to the sit command. That was no surprise as although Cirque is a very obedient dog he does think things through before he does them.
We spend less time backpacking than we had planned because Cirque introduced us to the world of competitive dog sports. He finished his conformation championship owner handled by Sally with 17 points including three five point majors.
He finished his AKC lure coursing field championship with three five point majors, too. He likes to do things in a balanced way I guess. One of those five pointers was at the 2004 RRCUS National Specialty in Plano, Texas when he was about sixteen months old. We entered him just for fun and were very proud when he was judged Best In Field that day. In late 2006 and early 2007 we started concentrating on ASFA lure coursing. Cirque earned his ASFA Field Championship in March 2007. He earned his LGRA Gazehound Racing Championship in 2007 and he has earned a few points towards his NOTRA Oval Track Racing Championship.

Cirque and I finished his AKC Novice Agility title and his Novice Agility Jumpers With Weaves title in May 2006.
He and Sally earned the RRCUS Endurance Trial Certificate at the 2006 RRCUS National Specialty. Sally was the only handler to run the whole course with her hound. For them the 12 mile course was kind of a mid distance run. Cirque started with a high heart rate because he was so excited to run. The Veterinarian/Judge said that his heart rate dropped at each examination. He is a very well conditioned hound. Cirque and Sally ran thier second Endurance Trial at the 2008 RRCUS National Specialty and we expect him to contiune this event he loves so much into his veteran years.

In March 2007 he and Sally earned Cirque's Rally Obedience Novice title. He and Sally are working on regular competitve obedience now.

After qualifying with Therapy Dogs International in 2008 Cirque and Sally have been voluteering as a therapy dog at the Salt Lake City Veterans Administration Nursing Home and The Carmen B. Pingree School for Autistic Children. This has been in many ways his most significant job so far. We are so happy with his ability to bring a little joy to our senior veterans and pre-school children with autism. He seems to have a nack with encouraging spotaneous language in folks that have had significant problems communicating.

It’s been an honor to share our life with this hound.